Extra: Nugent won't kick about going long

Bengals kicker Mike Nugent would just as soon have a longer extra-point try than none at all. That’s why he spent Tuesday in Arizona doing what he always does at this time in the offseason and that’s working out.

After his workout though, Nugent checked the news cycle that has the NFL mulling an extra-point experiment in the preseason and making it a 43-yard kick rather than a 20-yarder. The ball would be snapped from the 25-yard line rather than the two.

Better than getting rid of the point altogether, as floated by the NFL a few weeks back.

“Kickers are on the field a limited amount as it is,’ Nugent said. “This is our craft. We’re very lucky to be able to do it. I’d rather see it lengthened than abolished. I think it will give them what they want and make it tougher, especially on windy days and when the cold weather hits.”

But then again, maybe not.

In his four seasons with the Bengals, Nugent has missed just two extra points from 20 yards out of 139 tries. But he’s missed only one of six field-goal tries from 43 yards, the lone miss when he went wide right in 2011. Last year he hit both field-goal attempts from 43 yards.

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, a member of the NFL Competition Committee, indicated last month he doesn’t want to see the extra point go away. As evidenced by what happened to the Bengals this season, it’s not a lock. Nugent had one blocked against the Packers in the third game of the season.

“They did a good job coming up the middle,” Nugent said. “That’s the thing about the NFL. The preparation is so good. The coaching is so good and the players are so good, you can’t take anything for granted. Look at how far kicking has come in the last 30, 40 years.”

Looking back on the extra-point miss in Jacksonville in 2011, Nugent said it was because of a wind listed at 15 miles per hour that suddenly gusted as the snap came back.

“Because it’s so close, 20 yards, I almost hardly ever play the wind,” Nugent said. “I might have tried to hit it a little right, but just as I hit it the wind really picked up. I didn’t hit it well in the first place, and that’s what can happen to you.”Nugent said it won’t change his practice routine much if they try the rule in place this preseason.

“All it means,’ he said, “is trying more kicks from the 25-yard line and down the middle.”

With the NFL Draft a month away, the Bengals are drawing rave reviews from the national media for their work this offseason. After chronicling the pirating of defensive end Michael Johnson to the in-house signings of middle linebacker Rey Maualuga and left guard Clint Boling, the pundits returned from last week’s NFL owners’ meeting with thumbs up.